American brewers have taken wood aging to new levels that have never been seen before, re-creating flavors that traditionally would have been there pre-stainless steel. Add the blending of beer, which Pike has done here, and you open a whole new world of complexities.

Big, viscous tan head on top of a crude-oil-colored liquid--another form of black gold, perhaps? Plum pudding aroma of burnt sugars, candied dark fruit and a modest dollop of vanilla bean with a hint of burnt toast and dark-roasted coffee. Slick and smooth medium to full body, you would expect syrupy, but this has a pleasant mouthfeel to it. Roasted flavor never becomes domineering or brash; lots of chocolaty and mild coffee flavors. Toasted cocoa nibs come to mind with an edge of light molasses. Mild warmth from the alcohol, but it mostly stays hidden. The wood character plays up the vanilla sweetness, but then cleans it up at the same time with a layer of tannin dryness. Dried black currants and ripe plum in the back. Quick sting of hop bitterness does not cut through the malt, but does help to balance. Roasty and woody finish. This is a beer to savor every last drop: epic in stature but nothing too bold to not be utterly approachable. This is beer's answer to fine Port wine. (1,312 characters)

More User Reviews:

First things first, this was one of the bottles that had a brettanomyces infection. That being said, I love sour beers so I decided to give it a try.

Pours black with a huge (sign of infection) light brown head. The aroma was a mix of roasted malt and brett funk. The flavor was more of the same with some roasted malt and a lot of sour funk. You get some sour cherry character as well. Medium mouthfeel. Even though the head was huge, the carbonation in the beer was still low-medium.

Not what the brewer intended but I actually didn't dislike the beer. I wish I could try this beer in non-infected form because from what I could taste, I think the base beer is probably a good one. (686 characters)

A: Pours pitch black, no light. Nice sized head with some retention and decent lacing.

S: Very nice stout aromas mixed with a very appealling wood character. Really digging some of these new barrel beers that aren't in bourbon. Great wood.

T/M: Mellow stout. Light roast and char, some old coffee. The wood is definitely the best part but it doesn't come out enough. Nice bitterness on the back end. Body is medium full is nice creamy carbonation.

Ok, first off, it's not exactly a breeze to open this bomber - some very solid wax encloses the cap - a good knife is required to get enough of it off to have a go at the cap. By that time, the bottle was obviously agitated, and poured very messily, foam up the wazoo...

Anyways, inconvenient packaging choices aside, this beer appears in the glass as a black hole, no light escaping, save the tiniest of red tinges at the base when held to the overhead halogen lights. As previously noted, it gives off tons of foamy, foamy, foamy (did I say foamy?) brown head, which takes its sweet time to melt away. It smells very distinctly of bourbon - caramel, vanilla, alcohol, and spicy American oak wood notes, with a slight whiff of chocolate and coffee in there as well. The taste is astringent woodiness at first, then some caramel malt, dry cocoa, coffee, some booze, and increasingly intense citrus hops. The carbonation is on the mild side, the body decently weighted, and quite smooth, and it finishes with a sweet chocolate, hop, and whisky (no 'e') flourish.

A splendid barrel-infused big-ass stout, the bourbon influence well integrated. The alcohol is noticeable, but not in any significant way. My only set-to with this particular beer is a local concern - it goes for 16 Canuck-bucks a bottle - not the beer's problem, I know, but certainly a limiting factor in any future enjoyment of this stout for me. (1,413 characters)

A: poured pitch black with what looked like a nice viscosity, but instantly turned to an expansive froth. after a handful of minutes the huge froth disappeared, leaving about half a glass of what originally poured from the bottle.

A: murky brown and black body with deep burnt orange borders. Pretty close to ink black. The follow up and formation of a massive buff brown head erupted with my rather weak pour. This thing was incredibly active as chunky boulders of soft chocolate rocks sat atop, with staying power. Lacing had a few honorable mentions, with one large smear of particular interest hugging my glass. Looks like a "Pike Stout"

S: heavy hitting dark malts with faint chocolate, coffee, and bourbon types whiffs. Nothing stands in as being very woody, but you could stretch the senses after a heavy huff to include oak and vanilla within the bourbon/alcohol notes. If I remember right, this does a pretty good job of replicating the original Pike Stout with a few new smells

T: upfront are the dark malty notes, this is followed by crushed dutch coffee beans with a sturdy helping of bitter chocolates. A few sips in, when you let things gather, the predominant flavor revolves around the bitterness. The cocoa and coffee notes are free to roam and pick up lightly spiced vanilla with, you guessed it, wood-barrel (almost winey) flavors. The bitterness is claiming more coffee character as the sips continue and things are even darker with the malts taking form as blackened and smoldering. Warming augments a few dimensions. Otherwise the pungent flavors coat most everything on the tongue shortly after the sip

M: pretty heavy brew with some good girth points. The carbonation is in good order and right for the style. Another thing, the ABV just lurks around and never gets in the way, as it's always under control. The finish nips the palate with a baked dryness

D: the original Pike is banging, and the Pike Entire is banging. The original has been a go to brew for me and the same follows suit for the wood aged. If any discrepancies exist, which they really don't, it might need to mellow out just a bit with the bitter features it carries. Well, in any event, is it tasty! Get a hold of it (1,985 characters)

Pours a deep impenetrable black with a nice fluffy mocha colored tan head that lingers for a significant amount of time and leaves good lacing.

Nose is complex for sure. Lots of roasted malt and chocolate with hints of coffee and vanilla. Oak is apparent and a slight dark fruit presence as well.

Wow! Impressive for the pike. A huge roasted malt profile and alot of bitterness. Taste starts of like mad roasted coffee bean. Coffee and chocolate through the middle. A very dry stout. Some woodiness and vanilla, albeit slight towards the end. The finish has a big coffee bean bitterness and a very very dry finish and aftertaste.

Mouthfeel seems nice and viscous at first but sort of dies as it reaches the finish. Feels like its gonna be a thick and chewy one, but thins out considerably. Hard to explain. The carbonation is good, but the finish here is damn near abrasively dry. Quite strange.

Drinkability is pretty good aside from the crazy dryness, the abv is well hidden and this one goes down pretty easily.

Overall a very unique stout. I would like some thicker and more sustained mouthfeel, and a little less of that mad dryness on the finish. The bitterness is one thing, but this beer just sucks the moisture right out of your mouth on the finish. Aside from that, a very nice stout. Great roasted malt and wood profile and a nice coffee presence that I am assuming is acquired solely through the use of roasted grains. A good and complex stout. One to try for sure. (1,537 characters)

Middle stout rather than an imperial In a word, dry. The pour was a gusher, although not handled much in several months. Most was fortunately saved, and it poured mollasses substantially in foam form. Much roastiness. Initially a bit of sweet, brown sugar, anise, though bone dryness took over and dominated. Drinkable but a pint is much.Thanks Presario. (354 characters)

Pours a ...Whoa, we got a gusher, tons of foam. Dark black body with an enourmous tan head, great retention. Smells of oak, earthiness, Brett like funk, some chocolate and coffee, soft citrus fruits. Tastes of semi-sweet coffee and chocolate like malt with a fairly strong undertone of oak. Touch of citrus fruit and sourness. Bitterness is fairly moderate leading to a chocolate like dryness. Carbonation way too high for this style.

Overall, pretty disappointed, definitely infected. It almost smelled like a lambic for gods sake. Too bad, this could have been a very promising beer, but the excess carbonation really messes with all the flavors in this beer. I hope Pike is more careful in the future, i definitely won't be buying from them for a while. (757 characters)

Not my best review. Not rated to stated style as the rating would be very low.

So I can't tell if this is supposed to be a sour stout, but it is.

Appearance:The huge, continuous head seems to me to be the first sign that this is either intentionally or accidentally sour. Other than the fact that I can't seem to pour more than two ounces at a time, the beer has a nice dark color with lots of tan head.

Lucky to try this on tap at the pike brewery. Heard this was something that was worth trying so here goes. Review from my phone, live at the brewery.

A- As you would expect, it pours dark dark dark. Black liquid with a thin tan head that looks dense. Head dissipates fast.

S- My smell is shot from having a cold, but i can still get some coffee and sweet smokey notes from it.

T- Most definitely coffee. Chocolate comes in on the sweet side and balances with the coffee nicely. Still has the smokey taste which seems to keep the alcohol mellow. Very good taste overall.

M- Very thick going in and down and boy is it awesome. I can almost chew it. The flavor lingers forever on the tongue. Even being nearly 10% ABV, it is well hidden.

D- Man if you could handle more then a few bottles or even glasses for that matter, then a pat on the back for you. I would either get too full or plastered, which ever comes first. Overall a very tasty beer. I am going to be picking up a couple bottles on my way out, one for now, and one to age till their 2010 comes out. (1,063 characters)

New batch (not infected) provided by inflateablechair.... Thanks Sam.. this is the 2nd time Sammy threw down this beer, but the last bottle (first batch) was like coffee spiked with fruity car battery acid.

nose has bunches of black malts and oak... dry cocoa is also a bit player.

Flavor has hints of bourbon ... yet the oak is pretty heavy.. roasty... bits of char... French Roast... a small bit of chocolate holds enough sweetness to pull things together.

Body seems pretty lite for such a big brew and .... the carbonation is also pretty high. This beer has the bones to be pretty nice, yet the body and carbonation really need to be dialed in.... too fizzy.

Sam always brings the cool stuff that I overlook... You're good people inflatablechair.